Simplified LCA for Lifetime-limitation Indication

Energy and raw-material consumption are the two most relevant environmental impacts of electronic products. Related design and assessment guidelines are covered in many references, which, however, lack straightforward indication which of the two consumption and impact parameters dominates. At CARE Innovation 2023, a new indication figure was introduced, based on production GWP, which needs to be derived from LCA, use-phase GWP, and assumptions for future development of emission factors, respectively. The resulting indicator allows comparatively simple identification of products where operating-lifetime extension becomes net-negative with regard to the resulting total global warming potential. The indicator can thus indicate whether circular-economy actions aiming at longevity can cause harm in other environmental-impact categories, in this case, climate change. The indicator has been brought into ITU-T standardization, as newly consented draft recommendation L.UPR10 in study group 5, question 7. An update on this standardization as well as a brief overview on the comparison against comparative LCA is given. This is complemented by application examples of the indicator, which go well beyond ICT equipment. Results indicate that there are equipment classes where arbitrary lifetime extension causes net-negative (adverse) effects on total-lifetime GWP. Such lifetime-extension effects should be considered in future regulations on circular economy